The purpose of this blog will be to introduce a variety of topics relating to genealogical research topics and Southeast Michigan. Topics will be updated on a regular basis and input is always welcome.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

The city of Monroe is the seat of Monroe County, located in the southeast corner of Michigan’s lower peninsula. The Monroe in History website is the result of a collaborative effort among three entities: Monroe County Community College, the Monroe County Museum/Historical Commission, and the Monroe County Historical Society. Its purpose is to be a resource “students and researchers can use in their studies, and to foster interest in local history.”

Historical Photographs The photographs in this collection are from the Monroe County Historical Museum Archives. They are organized into categories: agriculture, bridges, churches and church buildings, clubs and teams, commercial buildings, government services, industry, lake and river, military, monuments, newspaper specials, people, residences, schools, streets, and transportation. To view a photograph, first click on the category link to open a new page with links to the individual photographs. Click the "Back" link to return to the page with links to the photographs. The large jpeg image may be downloaded to your computer, if you are not able to view the PDF files by clicking on the link. You must have a photo-editing program to print the images.

Civil War Letters The letters and other written materials in this collection are from the Monroe County Historical Museum Archives. The writings of thirteen individuals are represented here. Sometimes there are several letters authored by a single individual, other times there is only a single letter. The letters are available in two formats. They may be opened as PDF or as jpeg image files. The documents may be downloaded and printed.

Index to Images and Letters An index to the complete collection of images and letters has been provided on the website to enable you to quickly find items. Click on the links in the index list to open them.

A number of resources are available on the library’s website. In addition to Monroe County resources, there are a couple from the bordering area of Ohio. Scroll down to the section titled ‘Resources Available @ MCPL’ to access them.

Bygones of Monroe This section contains transcriptions of articles from Monroe County area newspapers. The ange of subjects covered by the articles include social gatherings, such as the Annual Muskrat Banquet (where nearly 1,800 muskrats were eaten), obituaries, reports of Civil War era activities and actions, and Circuit Court reports.

Laurent Durocher Account Books This resource is the alphabetical index to the account books of Laurent Durocher, who was active in the founding of Frenchtown, which became known as Monroe. It covers a thirty year period, from May 1, 1812, to February 24, 1842. The volume begins with family vital statistics information. The remainder covers Durocher’s “merchant business, banker, postage, tavern business and legal work.”

War of 1812 Veterans Buried in Monroe County The list of fifty veterans of the War of 1812 buried throughout Monroe County was published in the April 17, 1951, edition of the Monroe Evening News. It was prepared from cemetery and war records and local histories.

Indexes There are a number of indexes on the website, including:

Itemizer Surname Index; a surname index to the Itemizer, a Monroe newspaper that covered the societal happenings of the area, for the years 1877 and 1878.

Marion Child’s Interviews: Monroe resident Marion Child conducted interviews with elderly county residents during the late 1950s and early 1960s. The index is organized by topic and copies of the information may be ordered from the library.

There are two obituary indexes. One is an alphabetical index to the Monroe Commercial for the period from 1870 through 1873, plus 1878. It contains the name of the deceased, date of the obituary and page and column numbers. The other is an alphabetical index to the Wood County Sentinel newspaper, which was published in Bowling Green, Ohio. It covers the period from 1867 through 1876. The data fields include name, city, death date, age, obituary date, and page and column numbers.

There is an index to St. Mary’s Catholic Church baptism records for the period 1830 – 1839. The data fields in this index include the name of the individual being baptized, both parents’ full names, date of birth, and page number.

The Mount Carmel Cemetery is located in Toledo, Ohio. It is one of Toledo’s oldest Catholic Cemeteries, dating back to 1845. This database is an alphabetical surname index, which contains the section and lot number as well. The cemetery records have been microfilmed.

In addition you will find a list of Monroe County cemeteries and local newspapers, as well as information on tombstone carvings and their meanings.